Page 63 of Crash and Burn

Sebastian nodded. At least he was staying in the room here with her, rather than across the hall.

“He wants something that's still here.” She said it with conviction.

But Sebastian didn’t fully agree. “I don't know. He opened the closet, so he had to see that we found the second stash of jewelry.”

“But he didn't get the brick,” Maggie told him. “Who knows what else he left hidden around this house? I’ve lived here four months. He was here off and on for decades.”

He wanted to protest, but she beat him to it, switching topics like a racecar driver, and he didn’t like it.

“I'm losing work, and so are you.”

His lawyer was building a case, and he didn't think he would like her conclusion. She told him how she needed to get her life back together. And so did he.

Sebastian listened intently, trying to be open minded and ignore the dread that was closing around his chest, but it didn't work. Her next words made his blood run cold.

“He wants something here. I say we hold it out like bait.”

Chapter Fifty

Sebastian felt his heart go cold. He thought the topic had been dropped—after all, it had been three days. Maggie hadn't mentioned anything since the night she’d first brought it up.

Now he heard her talking to her clients and he realized he’d been wrong.

He was making lunch while Maggie finished up with a young couple who wanted to set up guardianship for their two young daughters should anything happen to them.

A-shift was on today, but once again he'd canceled. The chief was understanding about him not coming in, but Sebastian wasn't sure how much longer he could sustain that.

Maggie opened her office door and Sebastian waved to the couple as they passed through the living room and out the front door. When Maggie closed the door behind them, Sebastian couldn't help himself.

The words came out of his mouth in a flood of accusation. “You told them about the paper behind the brick!”

“Yes,” she said, the word was delivered simply, with no argument.

“Why would you tell them that?”

“I've told several people,” Maggie replied.

“Did you tell them it was a target list, too?” The very idea of what they'd found turned his stomach even though it would be important to the investigation.

When the police techs pulled the paper from where it was wedged they used tweezers to open it. Maggie had been allowed to take photos. Later, the two of them had put the list together on their own. Then Marina Balero had confirmed that they were correct: It was a list of targets.

Some of them were decades old. Many of the notes had been written in different pen, and appeared to be added at different times. Initially, Sebastian and Maggie had struggled by assuming that the list was all La Vista Rapist victims, but they hadn't all been. They weren’t all names either, in fact, most weren’t. Many entries were just dates, descriptions, addresses, or physical traits. But when they checked old news reports, they found each piece led to someone who’d been targeted.

However, some were La Vista Rapist victims and some were Blue River Killer victims. The list confirmed that the two had been working together, maybe finding each other victims. It was giving Sebastian nightmares.

“I didn’t tell them what it was, just that we had found it.”

“You told them that the police have it?”

“No,” she shook her head at him. “Just that we found it.”

“What happens when that information gets out?” What happened when her stalker—almost definitely a serial rapist—decided to come get his list?

Now, Maggie looked at him like he was being slow. “Exactly what I said will happen: he'll come back for it.”

That was when Sebastian felt the floor drop out from under him. She'dsaidshe wanted to bait her stalker. But when she hadn't said anything further, he’d assumed she dropped the idea. That had been his mistake.

“You're actuallytryingto get him back here?”

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